Coin-released lock.



H. Si MILLS. COIN RELEASED LOCK. APPLIOATION FILED DEO.14,1910.

Patented June 13, 1911.

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Wl'i'izesses H.S. MILLS. coIN RELEASED LOOK. APPLICATION FILED DL0.14,1910.

Patented June 13, I911.

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M'Z'nesses H. S. MILLS.

COIN RELEASED LOCK. APPLICATION FILED DEO.14,1910.

995323 'Patgnted June 13, 1911.

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COIN-RELEASED LOCK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 13, 1911.

Application filed December 14, 1910. Serial No. 597,214.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERBERT S. MILLS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Coin-Released Locks, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide, for use on a door and more particularly on the door of a toilet-compartment, a lock the construction of which shall require the in sertion of a coin for unlocking it from the outside, but permit it to be unlocked from the inside by turning a handle, and which shall cause the act of unlocking from the outside to display a signal, as one announcing the occupancy of the compartment, and maintain such display until the door is opened for the exit of the occupant.

The features of my improvement relate both to the internal mechanism of the lock and to its casing to cause the latter to render the device proof against unauthorized access to the interior of the case.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved lock; Fig. 2 is a view in elevation of the inner face of the lock showing the mechanism on that face by full lines in its normal condition and that on the outer face by dotted lines in the same condition; Fig. 3 is a view in elevation of the outer face of the lock without the casing, showing the mechanism of that face in normal condition with a coin, in dotted representation, inserted to render the unlocking and signal-displaying mechanisms operative; Fig. 4 is a View like that presented in Fig. 3, but showing the parts of the lock in their condition after the unlocking and signal-displaying operation has been performed; Fig. 5 is a view in elevation of the mechanism of the inner face of the lock, showing the parts in their condition after operation to open from the inside a door equipped with my improved device, and Fig. 6 is a view like that presented in Fig. 5, but showing the signal in its released and withdrawn position.

All the lock-mechanism is supported on the faces of a rectangular plate 7, that on the outer face being rendered operative by the insertion of a coin 8 and involving the following-described construction:

A sinuous coin-chute 9 is fastened to the outer face of the plate and presents a coininsertion opening at the upper edge of the plate, the lower straight section of the chute being open along its edges for the lateral discharge of an inserted coin along the edge of a stop-lever 10. This lever is fulcrumed between its ends, at 11, to the plate in position to project one end into the lower end of the chute in the coin-path therein, its opposite end being rovided with a weight 12 to overbalance it, for the purpose hereinafter explained, and a pin 13 projecting from the face of the plate to arrest the weighted end of the lever against dropping below the normal position. In the coin-insertion end of the chute is confined the signal-device 14, shown in the form of a vertically-recipro eating bar having its face which bears against the plate smooth and flat but with the lower section of its opposite face thickened to fill out the space it traverses in the upper end of the chute, to be guided therein and present an oblique shoulder 15 to form a section of the inclined base of the chute when the signal-bar is down, and to obstruct the insertion of a coin when that bar is raised to its signaling'position. On the upper end of the front face of the bar 14 are presented the words In use, or other desired form of announcement, and on the lower end thereof projects a stud 16. A bracket 17 on the said face of the plate affords a bearing at '18 for the rotary stem 19 of a handle or knob 20 (shown by dotted representation in Figs. 3 and 4), and to the inner end of this stem is fastened, to be confined between the bracket-bearing and plate, the socketend 21 of an arm 22, the fastening means shown being a pin 23 passed transversely through the socket and stem. A stop-pin 24: on the face of the plate projects into the path of the free end of the arm 22 to limit its outward movement in turning the handle 20.

From the socket-end 21 extends a curved finger 25 into engagement withastud16 on the signal-bar for raising the latter by turning the handle 20 toward the right to expose the signal and permitting the bar to drop by its own gravity (after its release, as hereinafter explained) to withdraw the signal from view by turning the handle toward the left. Turning the handle 20 toward the right is normally obstructed by the adjacent end of the lever 10 in its path, and the obstruction may only be removed by inserting a coin 8 into the chute, whereby when the coin encounters that end of the lever it depresses the latter to the position represented in Fig. 3, overcoming the gravity of the weight 12 and removing the free end of the lever from the path of the arm 22. Upon then turning the handle toward the right it forces the coin out of the chute, riding it along the upper edge of the lever 10, which assumes its normal position, as represented in Fig. 4, the coin encountering an oblique deflecting projection 26 in its path on the face of the plate 7, which tends to force it oif the lever to drop into the bottom of the case hereinafter described.

From the rear face of the signal-bar projects a stud 27 (Fig. 2) through a vertical slot 28 in the plate. The handle-stem passes through the plate 7 to actuate mechanism hereinafter described. On the rearface of the plate is fulcrumed at its angle, near the lower end of the slot 28, a bell-crank 29 having a notch 30 in the end of one arm to engage the adjacent end of the stud 27 when the bar 14 is raised to hold it in its signaldisplaying position until released by tripping the other arm 31 of the bell-crank as hereinafter described. The reciprocating bolt 32 of the lock works at its head 33 through a slot in a flange 34 on one edge of the plate 7, extending at a right-angle thereto, the bolt being resiliently held in its advanced position of protruding the head by a spiral spring 35 connecting it with the flange, and being provided between its ends with a stud 36 passing through it to protrude at both sides of the bolt, and with a guide-slot 37 near its rear end to receive a pin 39 projecting from the rear face of the plate. The rotary stem 40 of a handle or knob 41 at the inner side of the lock has its bearing at one end in the plate 7 and carries near that end two laterally-projecting fingers 42 and 43, the former to engage the bellcrank arm 31 and the latter to engage the bolt-stud 36, whereby turning that handle toward the right causes the finger 43 to retract the bolt and permit the lock-equipped door to be opened from the inside, and the finger 42 to turn the bell-crank 29 and withdraw its catch-end 30 from the stud 27 to permit the bar 14 to drop to its normal position; the arm 22 having meantime been brought to its normal position, as hereinafter described, wherein the finger 25 oflers no obstruction to the stud 16.

The handle-stem 19 extends entirely through the plate 7 and carries on its end at the rear face of the plate a curved crank-arm 44 traversing a stud 45 on the rear end of the bolt and having at its free end a pin-engagement 46 with a slot 47 in the adjacent end of a link 48, the opposite end of which is connected with a crank 49 on the shaft of an ordinary counter 50 of the well-known Veeder type. Thus, each time a coin is used to perthe operation is recorded by the counter, since turning that handle, by engaging the crank 44 with the stud 45 to retract the bolt, also pulls the link 48 and turns the crank 49 to actuate the counter, which is supported on a shelf 51 extending from the chute 9, with the crank-handle extending through a recess 52 in the upper edge of the plate.

As will be seen, each time the handle 20 is manipulated to retract the bolt, and thereupon released, the spring 35 shoots the bolt forward whereby the resultant engagement of the stud 45 with the crank 44 restores it and the counter-crank to their normal positions and the turning of the crank 44 on the handle-stem 19 restores the arm 22 to its normal position, wherein the finger 25 is withdrawn from obstructing the descent of the bar 14.

The case 52 is of the rectangular shape of the plate 7 which fits within it; and it comprises a face-plate 53 containing a hole 54 for the stem 19 to pass through it, two sides, each like that presented at 55 in Fig. 1, with coincident ribs 56 or their inner faces near the upper end of the case against the outer ends of which the plate finds bearing, and an upper side 57, these sides being cast integral with the face-plate. The side 56 contains a recess 58 coincident with the counter, through which to inspect it, and a recess 59 in which the bar 14 works and which forms the coin-insertion slot. The lower side 60 (Fig. 2) contains a section 61 hinged at one end, with a key operated lock 62 on its free end, the bolt 63 of which lock engages the adjacent section of the side; and between the lock 62 and hinged end of the lower-side section it is formed with' parallel flanges 64. Centrally on the lower end of the inner face of the casing-plate 53 is provided a circumferentially-grooved button 65 to receive and confine at its edge the inner flange 64 of the hinged-section 61, and the companion-flange engages, in the same way, a circumferentially-grooved button 66 provided in proper position on the inner face of the plate 7. Thus, with the plate carrying the lock-mechanism in the case and the side-section 61 locked, engagement of its flanges 64 with the opposite buttons also looks the plate 7 in place, and the device is rendered burglar-proof, since no means for fastening the parts together are accessible, except the lock 62, for removing the plate to gain access to the interior of the case.

I do not herein claim the means thus described for rendering the lock burglar-proof, but reserve the same for a future application for Letters Patent.

A cap 67 fits against and is screwed to the face of the plate 7 carrying the bolt 32 to cover the mechanism on the face, the open end of the cap abutting against the flange 34 and containing an opening (not shown) through which projects the stem 40 carrying the handle 41.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a coin-released lock, the combination with a case, of a plate confined therein, a coin-chute, a reciprocating bar, a stop lever projecting into the path of a coin through said chute, a handle and means connected therewith for protruding said bar and dislodging a coin from the chute, all provided on one face of the plate, a springprojected bolt and means connected therewith for retracting said bolt, all on the opposite face of said plate, a trip-lever on said opposite face for releasably locking said bar in its protruded position, and a second handle and means connected therewith for retracting said bolt and tripping said lever on said opposite face, for the purpose set forth.

2. In a coin-released lock, the combination with a case, of a plate confined therein, a coin-chute, a reciprocating bar, a stop-lever projecting into the path of a coin through said chute, a handle and means connected therewith for protruding said bar and dislodging a coin from the chute, all on one face of the plate, a spring-proj ected bolt and means connected therewith for retracting said bolt, all on the opposite face of said plate, a trip-lever on said opposite face for releasably locking said bar in its protruded position, a second handle and means connected therewith for retracting said bolt and tripping said lever on said opposite face, and a counter operatively connected with said first-named handle, for the purpose set forth.

3. In a coin-released lock, the combination with a case, of a plate confined therein, a coin-chute, a reciprocating bar provided with a stud, a stop-lever projecting into the path of a coin through said chute, a rotary handle-equipped stem projecting through said plate and carrying an arm cooperating eating bolt provided with studs, a crank-arm on said handle-stem traversing one of said bolt-studs, a bell-crank having a catch on the end of one arm to engage said bar-stud, and a rotary handle-equipped stem carrying a finger to engage the other arm of the bellcrank for tripping it and an arm extending into the path of the other bolt-stud, for the purpose set forth.

4:. In a coin-released lock, the combination with a case, of a plate confined therein, a coin-chute, a reciprocating bar mounted for movement in the coin-chute, said bar being provided with a thickened section adapted to form when in its normal position the bottom of the chute, and in its raised position an obstruction to the entrance of coin in the chute, a stop lever projecting into the path of a coin through said chute, a handle and means connected therewith for protruding said bar and dlSlOdgiIlg a coin from the chute, all provided on one face of the plate, a spring-projected bolt and means connected therewith for retracting said bolt, all on the opposite face of the plate, a triplever on said opposite face for releasably locking said bar in its protruded position with the entrance to the coin-chute obstruct ed, and a second handle and means connected therewith for retracting said bolt and tripping said lever on said opposite face, for the purpose set forth.

HERBERT S. MILLS.

In the presence of- J. L. RYAN, LAWRENCE REILLY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

